Thousands of years ago, in one of the snowy mountains of Nixfrigus where snowstorm relentlessly strikes the soil, a kingdom of ice unafraid of the raging storm stands tall, its citizens blend with its nature. There, lived a talentless prince named Cyne Luminen. For the proud Azure Elves that boast their talent in elemental magic, for them to birth such a disgraceful prince puts them to shame. Everyone held him in contempt but none openly voiced their opinion, for he still possesses a status.

"My talent may have failed me, but I have an unsurpassable beauty!"

The prince declared inside his bedchamber, startling the trusty servant near the entrance. 'Poor prince, consoling himself from indignity', the servant thought and broke into a wryly smile, although, he agrees that the prince's beauty is second to none.

'If I am with no power, then power shall be within my people.'

He smirked at his idea, why hasn't he think of this before? Has he felt so hopeless to overlook such an easy solution?

'Indeed, the strongest maiden will be my kingdom, a harem compose of mightiest women befitting of my grandeur'

The prince's heart shook from excitement just imagining the magnificent scene. He blasts out of the room full of enthusiasm, on his way for his glorious endeavor. With his position as a prince and irresistible appearance, his dream has been realized.

But destiny played him a joke, for he in private did not receive even slight respect from his wives, a tool to release lust in the night and a status only be taken advantage of.

As time flows, so does the sufferings have intensified, for fate must have unreasonably hated him to the bone, for even his descendants were caught in misfortune, they have inherited his quality of being unable to manifest mana to elemental magic.

Generation by generation passed, the unliftable curse continues to flow within the bloodline. Their treatment got worse to the point they were discriminately seen as nothing but sexual objects, the captivating beauty that was the only blessing to be proud of, has become a curse that further pushed them down to a chasm of torment. Not having any standing within their homeland that magical power has the final say, they fled towards an uncharted forest below ground.

Many lives were sacrificed, to take root in this forsaken land.

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"And that ends the history and language of the Forsadon. Before we move to combat specifics, you have the freedom for any inquiry"

A strick-looking woman closes an old thin book, at the front page of it, an "Ancestry" was written in their language. Judging by her looks, she's in her 30s but as an Elf with a long life span, she's certainly older than she appears. Similar to all Forsadi (plural of Forsadon), she has a heart-shaped face outline, a small sharp nose, and other Forsadon features. Adorned by black robes under leather armor covering her torso and limbs, although fully covered, these weren't enough to hide her enchanting curves.

Contrary to her seductive stature, Aldeice describes her in one word, "boring", he thinks she's too reserved and flat whenever she spoke, at least her bosom are not, even so, he still marked her as an utter bland woman, it makes him wonder who decided to put her in a teaching position for children.

At the front of the woman, were six cute little children focusing on her, they are inside a wide space of a room filled with bookshelves surrounding them, which surrounds the kids that are sitting on their small elven stools, their faces were illuminated by gem lights hanging on the ceiling, paired with their angelic visages, it gives off a magical view. Aldeice takes a final look at the interiors, the overall aesthetics of the room were identical to any houses of Verlassene, simple yet elegant, nature-themed.

"Miss Asteri, perhaps the prince should've considered learning any combat skills, swordsmanship I suppose?"

One of the youngsters at the front raised a question, he is a tall chubby boy possessing eyes that were full of vigor.

These years that have passed, Aldeice and Blanche have learned the language and slowly adapt to this civilization while getting used to sharing the same body, their parents named them (him, because it's a body of a boy) Enni Ashtanar. He is the youngest within the class, sitting at the farthest left of the second row, his expressionless face resembles the quiet slim kid of the class. As his first day here, makes him remembers how it took him numerous efforts to convince his parents for early education.

"He did, Thenaros. Unfortunately, his efforts weren't able to cover his inability to synergize with elements. He was way weaker than even a regular Elf swordsman who can infuse attacks with any element," she answered in a calm tone, seeing there aren't any more query she carries on to the next topic.

Further, into the discussion, combat ability was highly influenced by three aptitudes namely Mana Insight, Force, and Brisk. They will affect a person's overall growth towards the path which can be taken.

An individual gifted in Force is suitable for frontline roles such as warrior and knight whose main role is to protect and initiate battles, as they grow, their body strength improves to the point of unperturbed by heavy equipment and survived lethal attacks.

Brisk, bless a person with nimbleness befitting a deadly assassin and an agile swordmaster, some can even change position in a blink of an eye and strike with a speed of light.

Lastly, anyone who has the knack for Mana Insight has the biggest mana pool among the three, having huge mana for disposal, they drown their enemies with offensive spells and reinforce their allies with defensive incantations.

I thank you for the concise explanation Asteri, I now forgive your dullness, giving his faint nod of commendation, he listens in continuity.

"Before you go home, get yourselves each a pendants on this table. These were called Eye of Lotus, its main purpose is to monitor your growth and mana, you'll see your highest aptitude as well," Asteri said coldly as she gestures the youngsters to get the accessories on the table.

'You just got used to being treated warmly,' a teasing voice sounded, his thoughts were seemingly have been seen through.

Could be because of gender, Aldeice has higher authority and control over the body, it makes him felt bad for his wife, In the future let's get you the best frame, he thought.

Thinking she hit the mark, Blanche chuckles internally to his unresponsiveness, then she urges him to utilize the pendant quickly, before so, Aldeice take a closer look the pendant, it's a lotus-shaped hard dark wood with engravings of "know thyself" in Forsadon language at the back, and a fine purple tiny gem at the front-center of the flower, after admiring its designs, Aldeice pacifies his mind and pours his mana into the pendant.

Five seconds later, pieces of information were pierced into his mind.

Name: Enni Ashtanar [Forsadon (Substratum Stage)]

Brisk - 7

Mana Insight - 4

Force - 2

Mana - 18/20

Foundation: unknown

Gift: none

Spell: none

'Woaaah! Can you see that Blanche? Technology here sure is special, everything is run by mana which is similar to how significant electricity is in our previous life' he exclaimed.

While being amused by the phenomena, Aldeice and Blanche carefully examine the details, some of them haven't been explained yet by Asteri, these revelations ignite their passion for more knowledge to come.

From birth to this day, witnessing new things in this foreign world while being accustomed to their previous life, gave them a huge toll on their mentality, having someone to confer with, a person who Aldeice can share the same feeling of alienation gives off relief and takes off fear, thinking of this, he broke into a gleeful smile.

'Oh? I wonder what my husband could be thinking of?' Blanche asked curiously.

Occupying the same body but not soul allows them to independently ponder without disrupting the cognition of the other.

'Thank you, Blanche. This life couldn't be better without you' he answered in a serious tone.

Simple words, but says it all, if they could, they would be seen sitting side by side sharing emotions now, recalling their pleasant past memories together, this second life isn't really bad as it seems, they thought.

"The highest aptitude stat will also improve the largest in number as you grow,'' Asteri follows, monotonous as can be.

She said that it will aid in deciding which role can be taken in battles. If you have high Force which gives more physical endurance followed by Mana Insight, consider being a frontline who aids teammates with supporting spells.

"Miss Asteri, If I may ask, what are the Foundation, Gift, and Spell? Oh oh oh! What about the Subtantrum?" Thenaros flooded Asteri with questions, the former's saliva even splashing a bit as he speaks, some children truly are overly enthusiastic and curious.

"Thenaros, correction, it's Substratum, and any time in the future, they will be discussed," Asteri calmly answered, unperturbed by his behavior.

She's definitely used to handling lively youths comparable to Thenaros, she also advises the children to ask their parents to give them weapons fitting their size for the upcoming lessons.

With the class ending, Aldeice heads straight home, upon arrival inside, he was greeted by the aroma of food being cook by his mother, which puts him in a good mood, more family members really make the house livelier, sensing the pleasant atmosphere, Blanche was also infected by Aldeice's happy emotion.

Still brimming with joy, Aldeice approached his father who is sitting on a chair while cleaning his blade, there, he asks for a smaller version of a dagger comparable to the latter.

His inspiration emerges from his father's stories about how he can dash to deploy a fatal attack then safely dash out of the battle, having a high mana pool allows him to incessantly deploy this tactic till the enemy collapse.

After knowing his purpose and hearing how much his son admires him, the jubilated father just can't say no to his lovely child, he was all smiles as he sees his son who's the youngest within the village youths but the most sensible among the bunch.

If only he knew why.

Since their elf village was located underground where there is no daylight, each home has a celtic hourglass for the passing of time awareness.

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The next day.

Asteri started with the importance of Foundation, it will be the root in developing Gift. It's either a person can be born with it by hereditary or have to learn a Foundation through books or teachings, Elves are naturally gifted with the talent for elements, except the Forsadi which is a never-before-seen existence indeed, this pushed them to be the weakest amongst their species.

Within other races, people with non-elemental Foundations are the most common of their population especially the Humans, they counter it with their high birth rates allowing several geniuses who can compete with Elves to increase.

A Foundation is all about sensing and influencing, Foundation based on any element allows an individual to percept and alter it, and Gift will be created upon mastery of Foundation, hence the reason it was called Gift, if the entity has mastered a Foundation taming monsters then a Gift related to that will be gained.

"Besides me, are books that may help you learn a Foundation or can guide one's inheritance"

Asteri points her hand at a collection of books laid on the carpet on the floor, some were drawn with an ice and water logo. Receiving the children's confuse gazes, she added that anyone can try to make a miracle happen. Hearing this, the kids excitedly approached the books, Aldeice can even see Thenaros wildly running first like a child afraid that candies won't be enough if he's last.

After browsing through books Aldeice understands that "unknown" implies that no records of it have been known yet, it also explains that the Eye of Lotus pendant works similar to the storage of information, using mana to access these and match it with the target to show numerical data.

Aldeice's eyes were bulging out as he continues to read.

'Lotus christ! Eye of Lotus my ass, more like Eye of Bogus!!! What trickery is this, long ears?'

Ending with words of anything that was newly discovered can be named and describe by the originator allowing the Eye of Lotus' database to expand, Aldeice couldn't help but curse his ancestors in his mind, aren't magic supposed to be magical? Does it mean he has to figure out all these by himself? Looks like it.

He was expecting something akin to video games where even the rarest skills or discovery will be explained, he sighs in dismay as he extinguished his disappointment, he will just take it as a pioneer that has to unearth the following necessaries.

'Hahaha! It's funny to hear you curse the Forsadi when you're one of them,' Blanche cheerfully giggles.

If she can manifest, Blanche will be seen laughing in tears, what a good laugh, but suddenly she got a bad premonition, what if it happens to her as well? Being otherworldly might be a factor for this to happen right?

Still, in bad mood, Aldeice walks unhurriedly towards Asteri for consultation, she said that it's fine since unknown inherent Foundation will be easily distinguished because comparable with mana it is a part of who you are, she stresses out that Foundation is sensing and influencing again.

The class has ended with Asteri discussing Spell and Stages, the former can be learned simply through spellbooks or be invented coming from Foundation, the unique characteristic of Spell is that it can be unlearnt and change anytime at the cost of Spell's mastery to be reset, of course, to prove the element's disgust for Forsadi, even Spells were not spared.

Lastly, the Substratum Stage is one of the stages that inform the individual on their maximum capacity, to step up to the next stage, one must exceed their limit. In Substratum Stage, they can only have one Gift manifested from Foundation, and one Spell.